UMES women fall short vs. Canisius, 45-43

Sophomore forward Jamie Ruttle had 14 points and eight rebounds as the visiting Canisius women's basketball team held off a late UMES comeback to win, 45-43, on Monday.

The Hawks (0-3) went into halftime trailing by three, but they went through a scoreless spell of nearly nine minutes to start the second half as the Griffins (1-2) built a 35-25 lead.

The second-half slump highlighted a night in which UMES shot only 20.4 percent from the field.

Junior guard-forward Chelsea Sanders scored seven of her game-high 15 points in the second half to help UMES climb back into the game. But with the score 45-43, Sanders missed on a last-second shot to tie.

Stevenson's defense stifled Keystone throughout, forcing 26 turnovers. The Mustangs converted 26 those turnovers into 12 points while the Lady Giants did not score off any of Stevenson's 15 turnovers.

The Mustangs started strong in the first half, three times building its lead to 10 points, and went into halftime leading 34-25. However, Stevenson surrendered the first nine points of the second half before going on a 25-14 run in the next eight minutes to regain control.

Sabrina Vaitkevicius added 11 points and five assists off the bench for the Mustangs.

Tiana Cuttino led Keystone with 12 points and nine rebounds, and Alyssa Cuomo and Chantel Blake added 10 points each for the Lady Giants.